Adventures in Lightning Digitally Rewritten
by Shad0wHunter
Summary: Naruto, Hinata, Lee, Tenten, and Kakashi find themselves on a diplomatic mission to the Lightning country. Can love blossom on this mission? AU Later on. Improved version of Adventures in Lightning.
1. Ch1: The Impossible Mission

Yes, it's here. After rereading Adventures in Lightning, I've decided it's horribly written and am going to rewrite it. The story will not change much, but I will most likely be adding more detail and MAYBE some other things which I highly doubt. People liked the story enough the first time around, and I'm hoping for a somewhat similar, if not better response to the new version.

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. This is merely a fanfiction created using his characters and my own setting/turn of events.**_

Well I'm back, I had originally planned to CONTINUE with the story…but after rereading it, I decided it sucked and am using the old story as a template to create a better, more interesting story.

Well, here it is, complete with fixed grammar, more words, and an intro that almost doesn't suck! Woot! GUARD THE LEFT FLANK!!

ADVENTURES

IN

L I G H T N I N G

_--Digitally Rewritten--_

**Chapter 1: The Impossible Mission  
**

Naruto's alarm clock rang out in the darkness of his room. The loud, flashing contraption was situated right next to the boys head, otherwise he would just sleep right through it. The blonde boy slowly lifted his hand up and hit the snooze button and yawned. He looked up at the glowing clock, which told him it was seven in the morning, and he rolled onto his back. He didn't know whether or not to love or curse the man who invented alarm clocks. Without them, he'd never wake up before noon…but on the other hand, he really liked sleeping till noon. He laid there for a few more minutes until the alarm went off for the second time. This time he got up and turned the damned thing off.

He groaned as he stretched his muscles, which were tight from last night's sleep. The boy looked around and blinked several times before meandering into the bathroom. After several minutes he exited with wet hair and a towel covering his man-parts. The boy scratched his now wet blonde hair and looked at the calendar. On it, written on that day's date in big red letters was the words, 'MISSION BRIEFING' followed by several exclamation points. Seeing this caused a huge grin to creep across his face.

"YES!" He yelled to no one and jumped in the air. He heard a loud thumping next to him and through the wall he heard,

"Keep it down in there!" It was the old man next door. Naruto stuck his tongue out at the wall and continued to get ready. He threw on one of his many orange and black jumpsuits and grabbed his metal forehead protector. He snagged his equipment pouches on the way to the door and tied one around his leg and set the other on his belt.

"Here we go!" he said do no one again as he stepped out the door and into the day.

It was the beginning of winter. There was no snow on the ground yet, but it was wrapped in a blanket of leaves from the autumn fall. The wind bit at Naruto's face as he walked down the street towards Tsudane's office. Apparently this mission was one only HE could do. The boy was ecstatic. He kept thinking that she was finally seeing how strong he was. With his hands behind his head, he walked down the road with a giant grin on his face. He stopped at Ichiraku ramen on the way over to see if Iruka was there for his morning ramen. He wasn't there and Naruto pouted for a moment. He wanted to tell Iruka-sensei about is mission! He continued down the road until he got to Tsudane's office. He walked up the stairs and into her room, to see Hinata, Lee, Tenten, Kurenai, Gai, and Kakashi all standing around Tsunade's desk.

"But why THESE four?!" The masked ninja, Kakashi, yelled as he slammed his hands down on the table. "It makes NO SENSE!"

"It does make sense Kakashi," Tsunade sighed, "Lee is an excellent brawler, Naruto is crafty and quick-witted, Hinata has the Byakugan, and Tenten can provide ranged support." She explained. "It's a very balanced team."

"I'm inclined to agree with Kakashi on this Tsunade." Said Gai. "You're going to break up my team for this mission!" Kurenai simply nodded with agreement and looked at Tsunade expectantly.

"Kakashi, Gai, and Kurenai," Tsunade sighed as she looked up, "I assure you that nothing will happen to these four on this mission." She narrowed her eyes and added, "I've arranged for them to have ample help."

Kakashi snorted, "But that's not the POINT Tsunade-sama." Kakashi sad in a very frustrated tone, "You're breaking up three teams for one mission!"

"Just how important IS it?" Asked Kurenai shooting Tsunade a sidelong stare.

"This mission will change the Konoha as we know it." Tsunade said. "Naruto, please." She motioned for him to come in. "Have a seat. It's important that you hear this too"

"Y-Yeah…" Said Naruto cautiously as he walked into the room. All eyes were on him as if everything was HIS fault. Something he was quite used to actually… He sat down next to Hinata and the yelling commenced once again.

"So!" Prodded Kakashi. "You say this mission so important that it will change Konoha, but you're only sending three Chuunin and a Genin away to do it!"

"You know how shorthanded we are Kakashi, and I personally can't leave the village because of my workload." She eyed the group and sighed "It's a diplomatic mission," the Hokage said, "To the Lightning Country."

Everyone just stared at her. Kakashi's jaw dropped so far that his mask almost fell off.

"How could you…?" Kurenai started.

"How could you even THINK about sending THESE nin on THIS mission!" Kakashi completely lost it. "You've got Naruto, the king of messing up delicate situations, Hinata, the most quiet ninja EVER, Lee…he's Lee… and Tenten, which I don't know ANYTHING about. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!"

"Are you quite done Kakashi?" Tsunade asked furrowing her brow. "Now I know this may be a bit of a shock to you, but we have a cloud nin who is willing to take them to the Lightning Country."

"WHAAAAA--" Kakashi started, but was cut off by Tsunade.

"There will be NO discussion here!" Tsunade Yelled.

"Umm…" Hinata started to say, but was cut off by Kakashi.

"There WILL be discussion here! None of us want our teams…"

"Uhhh…" Hinata started again, but was cut off by Tsunade this time. Naruto glanced over at Hinata and frowned.

"Kakashi! These four have been hand-picked by ME to go on this mission."

"Errrr…" Hinata tried to interject one more time, but was interrupted again..

"5th-sama, I know that you have…"

"HEYHEYHEY!" , yelled Naruto, which caused everyone in the room to look at him. "You haven't let US have any input on the situation!" Naruto made a face and looked up.

"None of you have tried to say anything." Kakashi said, looking at Naruto.

"Yeah?" Naruto yelled, "What about Hinata? I've seen her try to say something three times! And you guys just ignore her because of your stupid adult nonsense!"

The outburst was followed by a short silence.

"Hinata," Asked Tsunade, "If you'd please?" Hinata's face turned bright red. She certainly didn't expect that.

"I…Umm…think…that it might not be… too bad of an idea…if we had a jounin go with us…" Hinata said, poking her index fingers together.

"Yeah! Good idea Hinata-Chan!" Naruto said patting her on the head. Causing her to blush even more and make a small squeak.

"Hmm…" Tsunade considered. "That's not a bad idea…" Tsunade agreed. "Though it should probably be a jounin sensei since it won't impact our ranks as much…

"I would feel better about this if there was a Konoha jounin with them…" Kurenai added. "But, I'm still not very happy about it…"

"The question is, who should it be…?" Tsunade asked.

"I don't get it, is this mission THAT dangerous?" asked Naruto.

"Yes Naruto, In order to get to the Lightning Country, on must go through the Sound Country."

"S-sound?" Hinata shuddered.

"Isn't that where that Orochimaru guy is from?" Asked Naruto.

"Yes. Yes he is Naruto," Tsunade responded.

"Psh," Naruto scoffed, "As if I'm afraid of Orochimaru. If we run into him, he'll be eating a rasengan for breakfast!"

"So, It seems like Naruto is in…" said Gai.

"If he's in, I'm in!" Lee said, with fire in his eyes.

"If Lee is in, I'm in." Tenten said staring at Lee with glossy eyes.

"I-If…t-they're all in, I g-guess I am too." Hinata said shakily.

"Just you watch Granny!" Naruto yelled pointing at her with a huge grin on his face, "This is gonna be cake!"

"We'll see about that, Naruto." The Godaime Hokage said with a smile. She got serious quickly again and looked expectantly at Kakashi and Gai."Well…" Tsunade sighed. "Who's it going to be?" Kakashi and Gai looked at each other.

"Jan!" Gai yelled.

"Ken!" Kakashi yelled.

"What the f-!" Naruto yelled.

"POI!" Kakashi and Gai yelled in unison as the swung at each other. Their Chakra filled the room as the two rivals hands met in midair. As the smoke cleared, it showed Kakashi's open hand covering Gai's fist.

"Two out of three," Gai yelled furiously.

"You're on." Kakashi said with a hidden smirk.

"JAN!"

"KEN!"

"POI!" They flung their hands at each other again. The smoke cleared once again, to reveal Gai's open hand in-between Kakashi's index and middle finger.

"Scissors cuts paper," Kakashi said with a gleam in his eye.

"CURSE YOU KAKASHI!" Gai yelled in fury. "YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY! RUE IT!" Gai stormed out.

"THAT MAKES IT 50 to 50 GAI!" Kakashi yelled out the door.

"RUE IT!" Gai yelled as he stomped through the door.

"What on earth was THAT Kakashi?" Tsunade yelled. Kakashi looked at her.

"JanKen." Kakashi said simply.

"Why did you just play JanKen…?" Asked Tsunade.

"To see who escorts these nin to the Lightning country of course." The masked man said simply.

"So you're doing it?" Tsunade asked surprised.

"Yup." Kakashi said. Tsunade grinned.

"Alright kiddies, pack up. Cause tomorrow, you're going on a mission."

"Lets do this." Naruto said with a wide smile. He was overly excited about this mission. The whole going through Sound country concerned him a bit. But he couldn't say the thought of finding Sasuke hadn't crossed his mind.

"C'mon Hinata!" Tenten said happily, "Lets go pack!" She grabbed Hinata's hand and smiled.

"S-sure." Hinata said as Tenten pulled her out the door.

"Why do girls have to make everything into a group project?" Naruto asked. "Especially something as simple as packing…"

"Cause girls are weird." Kakashi said. He had already busted out his Icha Icha Tactics and was reading. "C'mon boys, I think there's something Kurenai needs to discuss with the 5th."

"Hey…Kakashi-sensei, I skipped breakfast to get here on time, so I think you should buy me some ramen." Naruto yelled as he walked out the door. Kurenai waited till there was no more audible noise from the boy before she began.

"5th, I know that this is an important mission. But…" Tsunade cut her off.

"Why Naruto?" She asked.

"Yes, and its fairly obvious that Hinata has a crush on him. So why did you put Hinata and Naruto on a mission together? It's insane!"

"Maybe." Tsunade said smiling. "But Naruto has a way of bringing out the best in people." She started to work on some papers on her desk. "So that's why he had to go. And for Hinata…She needs to build confidence if she ever wants to become head of the Hyuuga house. And to be with the boy she likes for a long time with almost no one else around to talk to…she'll eventually be forced to talk to him, thus bringing up her confidence." She smiled, "Not to mention Naruto just might work his magic on Hinata like he did to ,many others."

"Fine, but if something happens to her, I will NOT forgive you." The red eyed jounin glared angrily at the Hokage.

"Duly noted." Tsunade said as she continued her work. Kurenai left with an angry glance at Tsunade who didn't look up from her papers.


	2. Ch2: One Hell of a Journey

Oh hay there. How goes it? Won't be terribly many changes until I get to the chapters that have fighting in them.

I R BAD GRAMMAR KILLAR!

ADVENTURES

IN

L I G H T N I N G

_--Digitally Rewritten--_

**Chapter 2:One Hell of a Journey  
**

It was the morning after the mission to the Lightning country was assigned. Naruto was still asleep. He was late, apparently his alarm clock didn't save him this morning. Fortunately, He wasn't the only one. Kakashi, as usual, was late. Lee, Hinata, and Tenten stood at the gate waiting.

"I wonder if we should go looking for them?" Lee asked with a slight sigh. He was almost as eager as Naruto for this chance to prove his worth.

"I can understand Naruto, but Kakashi-sensei?" Tenten said in an annoyed tone, "I mean he's supposed to be our escort…you'd think he'd be here early…" Tenten obviously didn't know Kakashi.

"U-umm, I know where Naruto-kun lives…I could check there…" offered Hinata.

"Cool," said Tenten, "I'll go check Ichiraku ramen,"

"I'll go look for Kakashi-sensei. Let's all meet back here in half an hour." They all left with a nod.

Hinata started towards Naruto's house. She can't believe she offered to go to NARUTO'S house. "Oh no…what do I do when I get there?" she asked herself. She got to Naruto's house in a few minutes and stood outside trying to get enough courage to knock on it. "What do I do…?" She picked up her hand and tapped lightly, and as if surprised, ducked and covered her head. She looked at it again, and knocked a little harder. "N-Naruto-kun?" She asked lightly, "Are you there?"

No answer.

"Naruto-kun?" she asked again. She started to knock harder. There was still no answer. There was only one more option. She had to go in. She reached out for the doorknob.

"What are you doing Hinata-chan?" asked a voice from behind her.

"MEEP!" The startled Hinata yelled. She turned around to see Sakura standing behind her.

"You know that's Naruto's house right?" She asked Hinata with her hands on her hips.

"Y-yes, Sakura-kun" She said through her panting. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry." She said. "You were looking for Naruto? He's probably still asleep." Sakura made an odd face. She grinned slyly and asked, "So, do you have something to TELL him Hinata?"

Hinata meeped again, "W-what do you mean Sakura-kun? I came t-to get him for a mission, He's late…"

Sakura sighed. "He's always late." Sakura booted Naruto's door in. "NARUTO! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!" Naruto came to the door rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, still in his pajamas.

"What is it Sakura-Chan?" Seeing Naruto in his pajamas made Hinata blush uncontrollably. "Oh, hey Hinata-chan…. HINATA-CHAN!" He yelled. "WHAT TIME IS IT!" He looked at his clock. "DAMNIT I'M LATE! I'M NOT EVEN PACKED!" Naruto started running around. "GOTTA PACK!"

"Hey, Hinata-chan," Sakura said, "I have to go, why not help Naruto pack? It'll go faster." Hinata looked at Sakura and blushed severely and poked her fingers together. "Good luck with that Hinata-chan." Said Sakura with a wink, and Hinata blushed even more.

Hinata had never been in another person's house except her own, the Hyuuga mansion. She walked in looking around. She peeked around a corner, "N-Naruto-kun?" She meeped again when she saw Naruto frantically packing…in his boxers. She covered her eyes. "N-NARUTO-KUN! P-put some p-pants on!"

"Eh! HINATA-CHAN!" Naruto quickly grabbed a pair of pants and struggled to put them on. He eventually ended up landing on his face with his pants halfway on. Hinata started giggling quietly. Naruto looked up at Hinata and smiled, "Hehe, You know Hinata-chan, you have a nice smile. You should do it more often, it makes you look cute." Hinata about exploded with embarrassment.

He called her CUTE! HIM of all people! It was like a dream! …in fact she probably had a dream that went just like that…weird.

"Umm, N-N-N-N-Narut-t-to-kun…y-y-you should pack." She said about to burst. "D-d-d-do you n-need h-help?"

"Nahh I got this Hinata-chan. Thanks though." He said with his trademark cheek-to-cheek smile. "Tell everyone I'll be there in a few minutes."

"O-okay Naruto-k-kun." She smiled at him and ran out. He thinks I'm cute! She thought to herself. Well this mission is off to a good start… She smiled happily and headed back to the gates of Konoha.

After nearly half an hour Naruto came running up to the group. Lee had found Kakashi in about 5 minutes. Tenten was waiting there too, talking at Hinata who was just nodding.

"NARUTO!" Kakashi yelled, "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!" He said as he grabbed Naruto by the head and put him into a headlock.

"ACK! I was out late partying last night, so I forgot to pack!" the blonde mass of hair coming out of Kakashi's headlock said.

"You shouldn't party the night before a mission!" Kakashi tightened his grip, "HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING?"

"U-umm Kakashi-sensei…I don't think that Naruto can breathe…" Said Hinata quietly. Kakashi looked down to see Naruto passed out, drooling on his arm.

"Ew." Kakashi as he dropped Naruto on his head said. Hinata rushed over to Naruto.

"Are you okay Naruto-kun?" She said touching his head gingerly.

"I'm aaa-oookaayy Hiiinaata-chaan." He said swaying back and forth sticking out a thumbs up.

"That was cruel Kakashi-sensei!" Hinata said.

"He's used to it." Kakashi said without looking up from his book. "I hit him on the head all the time. In any event" He said pointing forward, "Let's go!" They all looked at him. "…to the Lightning country…you know…our mission."

"You're weird Kakashi-sensei…" Kakashi looked at Tenten.

"It's all a matter of opinion Tenten, some people find my charms irresistible!" Kakashi said as they walked out of the Konoha gate. Tenten just rolled her eyes and decided that Kakashi-sensei was a waste of time. She trotted up next to Hinata and just started talking; blathering on about anything and everything that came to her mind. Boys, clothes, shopping, food, movies, ANYTHING she could think of. Hinata, being the polite girl she is, just listened contently.

After two whole hours, Tenten was still talking at Hinata who was just nodding. Lee and Naruto were talking about training. Kakashi was reading, thinking all the while that this would NOT be a fun mission.

Another two hours had passed since the crew left the Konoha gates. Tenten STILL hadn't stopped talking while both Naruto and Lee had stopped talking. Kakashi was still reading.

"You know," Naruto said, "We didn't say goodbye to our teams…"

"Most of my team is here," said Lee. "See?" He said as he pointed at Tenten.

"My team would yell at me for leaving…" Said Hinata.

"Sakura is probably happy I left…"

"Hmmm, you guys are one rag-tag group aren't you…?" Kakashi said with a chuckle. He looked around. "Hey guys, it might be a good idea to stay on guard from here on out."

"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because Naruto, we are far enough away from the Konoha that we could be targets." Kakashi said. "Some people might not WANT us to get to the Lightning Country. Now that we're far enough away from Konoha that we can't receive backup, we could be attacked. Always keep a hand on a kunai."

"Hmmm," said a Ninja, hidden in the trees, "It would seem that Kakashi's with them…The copy ninja…hmm…interesting." He leapt to the next tree, completely silent. "This does make things a lot more interesting," he said with a grin. "Maybe I should test him…"

Kakashi looked up at the trees around them. "Stay sharp guys, we're being watched."

"What! I thought this was a diplomatic mission Kakashi-sensei!" Yelled Naruto.

"It's still an S ranked mission Naruto." Kakashi's voice trailed off as he surveyed the area. "Hinata, can you use your Byakugan to see if anyone is around?"

"Y-yes…I-I can try." She said, "BYAKUGAN!" She surveyed the area. She saw nothing. "I-I can't see anything Kakashi-sensei…"

"Hmm," Kakashi scratched his chin. "Then he's good."

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto protested, "If the Byakugan can't see anyone, then there's no one there."

"There IS someone there, Naruto…" Kakashi sniffed the air, "I can smell him."

"RAISEN NO JUTSU! (Lightning Strike)" yelled a voice. A blade of lightning streaked through the air towards Kakashi.

"Oh shi-" Kakashi started to say as the bolt hit him square in the chest. He convulsed for a few seconds and finally collapsed to the ground.

"Haha!" The voice said, "It seems that Kakashi is useless without his Sharingan!" A man jumped out of a tree. He was tall, had long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. At his waist, he carried a katana. On his head, a metal headband with clouds on it, the symbol of the village hidden in the clouds. He wore a red leather trench coat and white baggy pants. "So, what will you do now that your sensei is dead?"

"Dead?" Kakashi said as he pressed his kunai up against the man's neck. "Don't be too hasty to kill me off. I still haven't played with you yet."

"Ahhh, a replacement jutsu, eh Kakashi?" The man grinned, "Clever. You always were quick with your replacement jutsus."

"Hehe, It's nice to see you too, Kaoshi." Kakashi said pointing to the man, presumably called Kaoshi. "This is the 'ample help' Tsunade was talking about."

"HE JUST TRIED TO KILL YOU!" Naruto yelled.

"Haha, yeah. Brings back memories, eh Kaoshi?" Kakashi said to the man.

"That it does, Kakashi. Just like old times." He leaned over the younger Ninja. "Who are the runts Kakashi?"

"They're the…uh…diplomats…" Kakashi sighed.

"…WHAT?! What is the 5th thinking, Kakashi?!" Yelled Kaoshi.

"I haven't the slightest…" Kakashi sighed again.

"HEYHEY! We're NINJA!" yelled Naruto, "We got this mission because we're the best of the BEST!"

"If you're the best of the best…then why don't you have a Konoha Chuunin jacket…?"

"ACK!…" Naruto choked, "Cause…I'm not a Chuunin…"

"And the 5th sent you on an S ranked mission? God, she must be older than I thought." He laughed putting his hand on his head.

"Actually Kaoshi…I'm the one who trained Naruto." Kakashi said. "He's actually very strong. He is easily the strongest Genin in the Konoha. To attest to this, he defeated Hyuuga Neji in combat."

"He defeated the protégé of the Hyuuga clan?" He looked at Naruto, "Hmmm, guess you're not to be underestimated…"

Naruto smiled, "Hell no! Underestimating me is a HUGE mistake!"

"Whatever kid," Laughed Kaoshi, "Anyways, I'm here as backup. I'll get you to the Village hidden in the Clouds, no problem."

"Alright Kaoshi," Kakashi said, "The kids just met you, so why not introduce yourself?"

"My name's Kaoshi!" He pointed at himself with his thumb. "I'm a master swordsman, an expert in lightning-jutsus, and my dream is to become the Raikage!"

Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground. "IT'S MY DREAM TO BE HOKAGE!" He yelled.

Then, after an incredibly long discussion about becoming Hokage/Raikage, the team of completely random members decided to camp out for the night.

"C'mon Hinata, help me pitch out tent!" Said Tenten.

"O-okay…" Hinata said, following Tenten. She and Hinata started to get to work on their tent. So did Lee and Naruto.

"So Kakashi," Said the cloud Nin, "Who exactly do we have here?"

"Well, The girl with the buns is Tenten. The one with the huge eyebrows and bowl cut is Lee, They're part of Gai's team."

"Ahh, Gai…What a silly man."

"Indeed," Kakashi nodded with agreement. "Then there's the girl with the white eyes and long black hair, that's Hyuuga Hinata."

"A Hyuuga! Can she use her bloodline?" The cloud ninja said leaning forwards.

"Yes, but not very effectively, but she's still useful. She's also very shy, so try not to yell at her." Kakashi added, "Lastly we have, Uzumaki Naruto,"

"UZUMAKI!" Kaoshi yelled, "You mean he's the 4th's…"

"Yes, but keep it down." Kakashi said, "He doesn't know yet."

"Oh, why not?" Kaoshi asked.

"It's probably because everyone in the Konoha hates him. He has the Kyubi sealed in him so all of the adults blame HIM for the near destruction of the village. So we kept the fact that he was Yondaime's son from the public."

"That's not right…" Kaoshi said angrily, "He should be a hero!"

"Well, you can't tell people what to think…unfortunately"

"Tard muffins…" said Kaoshi angrily.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Yelled Naruto, "We're all done here!"

"Okkkay" Said Kakashi, "Now two of you go get firewood…or whatever."

"Okay who's gonna go?" Asked Naruto.

"Four way Janken?" Lee suggested. After 5 minutes the two were decided: Naruto and Hinata.

"Seriously, I SWEAR that paper beats scissors, I mean…it wraps them up and stuff and the scissors can't cut."

"Tough luck Naruto," Lee grinned triumphantly, "It's you and Hinata." Tenten walked up to Hinata, patted her on the back, and whispered.

"Good luck girl!" Hinata felt her wave of embarrassment come over her. Did EVERYONE know? She looked at Naruto, Well…almost everyone…she thought to herself.

"Fine we'll be back in a bit," Naruto whined, "Just don't eat any of my ramen!"

"HOW could we eat any of your ramen without fire to boil the water?" Tenten asked. "Hmmm?"

"Well…don't go finding a way!" Naruto yelled as he disappeared into the darkness with Hinata. Tenten moved over to Lee.

"D'ya think she'll even talk to him?" Tenten sighed.

"Not a chance…" Lee sighed as well. "I have an idea! TENTEN this has to be the greatest idea EVER!" Lee said excited. "The fires of youth are burning inside me!"

"Lee…?" Tenten blushed, wondering if these so called 'Fires of youth" were a metaphor for something else, more…romantic perhaps?

"LET'S TRAIN!" Lee yelled excitedly. "I'll get the weights!"

"Oh…Lee, Let's not." Tenten said with a disappointed sigh, wishing he thought of things other than training.

Naruto walked along with Hinata a few paces behind him. Naruto had a giant frown on his face. He did NOT want to be doing this.

"N-Naruto-Kun…" Said Hinata meekly. "We probably shouldn't go so far from the camp?"

Naruto just looked at her. "Well there's no good firewood around here," he said, "It's not like we can go back without firewood." He stopped, "Besides, you've got that cool Byakugan or whatever. Can't that find the way back?"

"I-I suppose…" Hinata said looking at the ground.

"C'mon," Naruto said, "Let's hurry. It's starting to get cold out, and those clouds look like rain." He grabbed Hinata's arm and pulled her along.

After about half an hour of scavenging, the two found enough wood to last the night. They started heading back when, of course, it started raining.

"Come on Hinata! Let's hurry!" Naruto yelled. He pulled her by the arm again. "Hinata, which way to the camp?"

BYAKUGAN! Hinata looked around. She couldn't see it. "Naruto-kun…I can't find it…the rain…It's too heavy."

"DAMMIT!" He looked at Hinata who was on the verge of tears. "Can you see like a cave or a hollowed out tree or anything to hide in for a bit?" Hinata looked around again. She pointed to her left.

"There's a cave little ways that way." Naruto grabbed her arm again and ran in the direction she pointed. Lo and behold, there was a cave there.

"Thank GOD!" said Naruto as he ducked into the low entrance. Hinata followed him and they sat shivering in the mouth of the cave.

"W-what are we going to d-do Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. Naruto thought for a minute.

He crossed his fingers to make a seal, "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" He yelled. Three clones appeared and ran out of the cave. "Don't worry, we'll find the camp." He said with his signature smile.

Hinata wanted to cry. She felt so useless. The tears welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun. If it was Neji here, he'd be able to find the camp easily…"

Naruto looked at her, she was shivering with her head in her knees. Naruto sighed and took off his jacket. He put it around her shoulders. "Hinata-chan." He said as she looked up. "It's not your fault. You just couldn't see it. That's all. I'm sure Neji wouldn't be able to do much better."

"B-but…" she looked down again, "It's always like this. I'm always so useless…"

Naruto sat down next to her. "You're not useless, you just lack confidence." Naruto pointed to himself, "I'm the most confident person you'll ever meet. But that doesn't mean I don't screw up from time to time."

"Naruto-Kun…" Hinata whispered.

"Don't worry about it Hinata." Naruto laughed, "I remember one time like three years ago when we were still team 7…I screwed up a D ranked mission so bad. We were supposed to clear some debris off of someone's yard from a big storm and me, being the clever lad I am, tried to lift a fallen tree trunk by myself." Naruto paused and chuckled, "Well I lifted it up fine, but I couldn't walk with it…when Sasuke came to help me I accidentally dropped it on our feet. We couldn't walk for days." Naruto laughed again and Hinata smiled. Somehow he always managed to cheer her up, no matter what.

"Thank you Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a faint smile, "I feel a little better now."

"Don't mention it," Naruto laughed, "You should try to sleep," Naruto said, "I don't know how long it'll take to find the camp with my clones so…"

"But…Naruto-kun…" she said looking up at him. "I don't want you to be lonely…" She bit her lip, "I realize I'm not great company, but…"

"It's okay. I won't be able to talk much anyways. It takes a lot of chakra to keep the clones alive at such a distance." He patted her on the head. "You just rest." Hinata just nodded. "Besides, I think you're great company!"

"Y-You do?" Hinata asked, very shocked.

"Yeah!" He smiled ear-to-ear, "You always listen to what I have to say, no matter how dumb. " He ruffled her hair a bit, "You just get some sleep, okay?"

Hinata blushed and looked down at the ground. "N-Naruto-kun…" Before she knew it she was asleep, resting her head on Naruto's shoulder.

"God." Naruto sighed, "I had no idea that we were THIS far away from camp…" He sighed again, "At least I found it." He looked down at Hinata, "I think I can stay awake till they get here." However, the rhythmic pounding of the rain on the stone above acted as a natural lullaby and put him to sleep.


	3. Ch3: Into the Sound

Ok. Finally some action. I changed more this chapter than I did the last two combined. I didn't really like the way I portrayed Naruto in the old version, he seemed kinda bloodthirsty and psychotic. So I changed that. Yeah…enjoy.

ADVENTURES

IN

L I G H T N I N G

_--Digitally Rewritten--_

**Chapter 3: Into the Sound**

That night was NOT a pleasant night for the not-trapped-in-a-cave-ninja. Originally they had planned to have Tenten and Hinata sleep in the tent, while the boys and the jounin slept outside. The storm changed their plans a bit. All four of them were stuck inside that little tent. Needless to say, it was incredibly awkward for all of them. Well…except for Kaoshi maybe, who didn't seem terribly bothered by it and was out cold as soon as he hit the sack. Kakashi, Tenten, and Lee however, were up most of the night talking about random things like missions and food.

The morning after the storm the four ninja set out to find their companions. They traipsed through the mud and guck towards the cave that Naruto's shadow clone had directed them to. After hiking about a half-mile Lee decided to break the silence.

"So, do you think we'll find them?" He asked.

"Of course we will." Kaoshi said with a smile. "Though…The directions the clone gave us WERE pretty vague…"

"What do you expect?" Kakashi asked, "to feed Chakra to a clone at that distance? The kid must have been exhausted." Kakashi looked around, "From what the clone said…it should be around here…"

"Look Kakashi-sensei!" Lee yelled, "There's a cave over there!"

"Hmm." Kakashi said, "Lemme take a look." Kakashi knelt down to see what was inside, and after a moment, stood up. "Did any of you bring a camera?"

"Umm I did Kakashi-sensei," Tenten said with a strange look on her face. "But…why would you…"

"Just take a picture of what's inside there." Tenten fished around in her bag, after a few seconds she pulled out a camera. She knelt down to take a picture.

"AWWWW!" She squealed, "That's so adorable!" She quickly snapped a few pictures.

"Let me see!" Lee and Kaoshi yelled, who upon seeing it, started laughing. What was in the cave was nothing more than Naruto and Hinata sleeping. Though, Naruto's jacket was around Hinata's shoulders, Hinata's head was on Naruto's shoulder, and Naruto's head was resting on Hinata's.

Tenten smiled. "Mwahahaha! Can you say, 'blackmail'?" (For those of you who interpreted this wrong last time around, she's just joking and doesn't actually plan to blackmail anyone)

"Wake them up." Kakashi said with a yawn, "We gotta get a move on if we're going to make it through the sound country today." Lee climbed into the mouth of the cave and took a deep breath.

"NARUTO-KUN! HINATA-CHAN!" He yelled, "TIME TO GET UP!"

"HOLY HELL!" Naruto yelled. "What the-? Who the-? How the-?" He looked up, "Oh, hey Lee, you scared the crap outta me!" Naruto looked over to Hinata whose face was bright red. "Mornin' Hinata-chan." She looked at him wide-eyed. They had slept next to each other! Naruto stood up and brushed himself off. He then yawned so hard that it brought tears to his eyes. "That was not the most comfortable place to sleep in…" He said.

Hinata climbed out of the cave, blushing more than usual. Naruto was already looking for something to eat, seeing as he hadn't eaten anything since that afternoon. Tenten hopped over to Hinata and patted her on the back.

"Good job girl!" She said with a wink.

"B-b-but…I d-didn't do anything…" Hinata said turning even redder.

"I know, but what else can I say?" She said smiling. "Sleeping next to the guy you like? That deserves SOME props."

_That's it_…Hinata thought, _EVERYONE knows…except the one person who matters…_

"Aside from the fact that you got lost…I'm pretty impressed Naruto." Kakashi said, "I mean, creating shadow clones and making them go so far away from one's body, that's quite impressive."

"Heh," Naruto chuckled proudly, "I've been practicing on my chakra control, just like you told me to."

"All right," Kakashi sighed, "We have a long way ahead of us, we're still a few hours from the Sound country, so we should save our energy so we can get through as fast as we can."

"Yes sir." Kaoshi said as he gave Kakashi a salute. "I'll follow your orders till I die sir!" this earned a few chuckles from the younger ninja.

"Shutup before I stab you." The masked ninja sighed, "In any event, let's get on our way." With those words, they departed for the border of the Sound Country. Naruto ran up ahead with Lee to talk about training again.

"So? Tell me what happened!" Tenten prodded with a curious grin on her face.

"Nothing really…" She said, blushing more with each passing minute.

"Ohh come on." Tenten said, "SOMETHING had to have happened." She gently nudged Hinata with her elbow. "A hug perhaps? Maybe even a kiss?"

"N-n-n-n-n-n-n-no!" She half yelled, "A-as i-if s-something like th-that w-would happen…" Hinata couldn't say that she had actually had a dream about that the night before. Tenten wouldn't ever let her hear the end of it.

"Man Hinata," Tenten sighed, "You're so boring."

"S-sorry Tenten…" Hinata sighed.

"Don't worry about it," Tenten said with a smile, "I'm cheering for you."

"Th-thanks…" Hinata said. She wasn't sure if she was thankful or afraid for that.

The party continued northwest towards the thinnest section of the Sound country. Kaoshi was in front, followed by Naruto and Hinata, behind them were Lee and Tenten, and lastly Kakashi took the rear. Around noon they reached the Sound border.

"Alright guys," said Kaoshi, "It's important that we stay absolutely silent for the next two hours. If we're found while inside the Sound Country, we're completely screwed."

"All right!" Naruto yelled with a grin, "LET'S GO!"

"That's the kind of thing we DON'T do." Kaoshi said punching Naruto in the head. "Once we go in, there's no going back. You ready?"

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled.

"OWAH! THE FIRE OF YOUTH COMPELS ME!!" Lee shouted happily.

"If Lee's in, I'm in." Tenten said simply.

"Mhmm." Kakashi said with a yawn.

"I-I guess I'm r-ready…" Hinata stuttered.

The band cautiously proceeded into the Sounds territory. After a few moments of walking, everything was nearly pitch black. Though they could barely see the person in front of them, they dared not to speak; the sound ninja could be anywhere.

They jumped from tree to tree making as little noise as possible. However, their efforts were in vain. A familiar face was already on to the party.

"Orochimaru-sama," said a sound ninja kneeling, "We have visitors. Five leaf ninja, and one Cloud ninja. One of the leaf ninja resembles Hatake Kakashi." **(AUTHOR'S NOTE: please keep in mind that this fanfiction was originally written about two years ago, before Orochimaru bit the dust. Thank you.)**

"Then let us be gracious hosts and treat our guests to some company." He snickered.

"Right away Orochimaru-sama." The sound ninja said as he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

The team was darting around the dark forest; everything seemed to be going fine. Kakashi looked around, and sniffed the air. He shot a quick glance at Kaoshi and shifted the headband to reveal his left eye. Kaoshi nodded, started doing a sequence of hand seals, and kept going. Kakashi fell back to accompany the four teen-agers. He shot a glance at Naruto who, upon seeing his left eye, nodded and looked at the others. After a moment they figured out what was going on.

Kaoshi had it all planned out. The first wave of sound ninja would get hit by his genjutsu and be stunned long enough to kill them. Kakashi would do the same in the back. Hopefully, the kids wouldn't do anything dumb and get themselves killed. Then they would get into a defensive formation, with Kakashi and Kaoshi in the front and back, the two boys covering the left and right, and the two girls in the middle for ranged support. It seemed simple enough. As soon as he had finished devising his plan, the worst possible thing happened. Hinata slipped. Fortunately, she landed on her feet.

Then, as if on cue, six sound ninja leapt out of the bushes and surround Hinata. She quickly activated her Byakugan and got into a closed stance. Another four sound ninja followed the first group. Naruto saw this happen and jumped from cover.

"HINATA-CHAN!" He said diving into the circle of shinobi. He landed, kunai drawn, and positioned himself with his back to Hinata's. "I got your back Hinata-chan." He said with a forced smile.

"I'm…I'm sorry…Naruto-kun." Hinata said, clearly upset.

"Hey," Naruto said, jabbing her lightly in the side with his elbow, "If you're gonna be upset, do it after we kick the crap outta these guys." He smiled at her, "And when that happens, I'll be there to make you feel better."

"N-Naruto-kun…" She said as her face turned a light shade of scarlet.

"Let's kick some ass, Hinata-chan."

Kaoshi looked down and saw Naruto and Hinata's situation. He looked behind him and saw Lee and Tenten in a similar predicament. Kakashi had his hands full too. Kaoshi looked ahead and saw four sound ninja waiting for him. There was only one word that could correctly portray his emotions at that point in time.

"Fuck." He said as the four ninja converged on him.

Naruto and Hinata stood back-to-back looking into the faces of ten sound ninja. They all wore the sound shinobi Chuunin jacket. Naruto felt Hinata shivering with fear. Before he could say anything else to comfort her, two of them jumped towards Naruto.

Naruto ducked and the first Sand nin's attack went harmlessly over Naruto's head. The second came at him with a kunai. Naruto blocked with his own kunai and parried the strike. His parry caused the two Sound ninja to collide and gave Naruto enough time to use his favorite jutsu. He crossed his fingers across his chest.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" He yelled as four clones appeared. They quickly surrounded the off-balance ninja. "U!" "ZU!" "MA!" "KI!" The clones yelled as they each kicked one of them into the air. The real Naruto floated above poised for the last blow. "NARUTO RENDAN!" He yelled as he delivered the final hit.

The sound nin fell to the ground unconscious. He glanced back to see how Hinata was fairing, only to see her collapse to the ground.

"HINATA-CHAN!" He yelled. The Sound ninja just laughed.

"Is this all you leaf ninja are?" They retorted. "Seriously?"

"There's a lot more to us than meets the eye…" Naruto said, fighting to control his anger.

"Not much to this one," said one of them as he kicked her.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" Naruto yelled, holding back the Kyuubi with all his will power.

"Oh, we'll do MORE than touch her once we're through with you and your friends." One said, licking his lips and staring at Hinata licentiously. They all started laughing.

Naruto snapped. The Kyuubi chakra started to leak out. He looked up at them with his red eyes and said,

"Once you're done with ME? Hah, I can take all of you single handedly." He said with a wild smile.

"You seem pretty confident SQUIRT." They said chuckling. The nine remaining sound ninja got ready, "Let's see you back up that confidence."

Naruto sneered. "Well, at least I have some faith in myself. The only reason you guys are so confident is cause there's nine of you." He chuckled. "It took nine of you to take out one little girl. Now THAT is tough." He started applauding them.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH YOU ASSHOLE!" One yelled as he charged Naruto. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" He swung at Naruto who sidestepped the attack and stuck out his leg. Naruto swung a fist at his assailant's back, it connected and made him trip over the blonde's leg. Naruto spun and threw a Kunai at the falling man with his free hand. It connected, but the man poofed away.

"Hah, you think that trick would get me?" The man retorted. Naruto just looked at the man, waved at him, and turned around to face his other attackers. "What makes you think you can turn your back on me?!"

"Look what's on YOUR back, and you'll see." Naruto said without turning around. The man complied and saw an explosive tag

"Oh shi--" the man began, but was cut off as he was ripped apart by the explosion.

"Apparently I know how to kick your ass." To this comment, another of the sound shinobi rushed him.

"Take this you cocky bastard!" The ninja's punch collided with Naruto's face, which turned into a log. "Wha--? Replacement jutsu!" Naruto appeared behind him smiling.

"Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique!" Naruto yelled as he jammed an explosive kunai into the rear end of the shinobi. "ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF PAIN!" The sound nin flew into the air and exploded. Naruto stood up and glared at the remaining seven sound nin. "Three down," He said angrily.

Two more attacked him, one punched with his left arm, the other with his right. Naruto leaned back, dodging the punches, and jammed two more explosive kunai into the arms of the two attacking sound ninja. The kunai went through their arms and into the arm of the other, trapping them together. The two tags exploded, blowing away their arms and most of their torsos.

"Who's next?" asked Naruto, who at this point was more Kyuubi than he was himself.

"I've got this one." Said a rather large sound ninja coming from the back.

"Kayake! This one isn't worth your time! We can…" The big ninja grabbed him by the face.

"You obviously CAN'T take him." He yelled. "I've already lost four of you to him! I won't lose any more!" The big man put the Chuunin sound ninja down. "Okay BOY, I promise this will be over quickly." The large Sound ninja said and charged Naruto.

"You're right," Naruto said, as he easily dodged the attack. The man stumbled and tried to pivot back for a second attack. Naruto took the time to charge up a rasengan. He looked up and saw the Sound ninja's fat arm flying towards his face. Naruto lifted his rasengan up to block the blow. When the man's fist hit the rasengan it completely shredded. Unfortunately for Kayake, he couldn't stop fast enough and ended up losing most of his forearm to the Rasengan. "It was over fast, wasn't it?" Naruto teased as he slammed the rasengan into the torso of the Sound ninja. The blood-covered Naruto stood glaring at the remaining five shinobi. "So?" he growled. "Is that it?" The last of the group fell all over themselves trying to run away. Naruto watched them go as he heard a noise at his feet. It was the sound ninja he had K.O.d earlier. He jabbed an explosive kunai into him and flung him at his teammates. "Present for ya." He said as the kunai exploded. He paused for a minute before walking over to Hinata. A wave of relief washed over the blonde and he smiled slightly. The Kyuubi's presence within him faded away. He looked at her for a moment. She really WAS cute. After a few moments she opened her pale gray eyes.

"N-Naruto-kun?" She said, immediately snapped awake in response to seeing him covered in blood. "A-are you okay!"

"I'm fine." Naruto said with his trademark grin. "I'm gonna be Hokage, these guys are nothing compared to me."

Hinata looked around. She saw the corpses of the ten sound nin. Wide eyed she asked,

"N-Naruto-kun? Did YOU do all this?" Naruto looked around at what was left of the bodies.

"When they knocked you out…" he said ashamed, "I kind of lost it…and I killed all of them…I don't even remember what I did…it just happened so fast…"

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"Hello comrades!!" Lee yelled as he came out of a bush, carrying Tenten on his back.

"Hey Lee." Said Naruto. "You guys look a little beat up."

Lee smiled, "Yeah, they sent 7 Chuunin after us." He pointed to himself. "but they where no match for me and Tenten!" Tenten smiled and laughed.

"Lee really did all the work…I just got hurt."

"Nonsense! You gave me the motivation to win!" He smiled, "That's something!"

"Haha, sounds mildly familiar…" Naruto said with a laugh. "So, do you know where Kakashi or that other guy are?"

"I saw Kakashi-sensei run off into the forest, and that other guy I have no clue." Tenten said.

"Great…" Naruto said, "Now what are we gonna do?"

"U-umm…We could try and find them…" Hinata said.

"Naw…Then we could get lost." Naruto pointed out.

"If only there was a way to stay here and go looking without moving…" said Lee.

"OH!" Naruto yelled. He broke out a scroll and bit his thumb. He placed it on the scroll and slid it down till the end, causing a long trail of blood. "Kichiyose no jutsu!" yelled Naruto. A little frog appeared.

"What a great idea, Naruto-kun!" Lee said.

"What do you want!" asked the frog. Naruto explained the situation and the frog hopped off in search of the two men.

"What now?" Hinata asked. Naruto looked at her.

"We wait." He said with a slight smile.


	4. Ch4: To Hell and Back Again

Jeez…I used to write such short chapters… started out at like 1800 words…jeez…I buffed it to just over 2000…but still…now I wouldn't even think of publishing a chapter with anything less than 3000…ohh well…I can't really do much now cause I've got the story all laid out.

ADVENTURES

IN

L I G H T N I N G

_--Digitally Rewritten--_

**Chapter 4:To Hell and Back Again  
**

Kakashi stood in the middle of a circle of corpses panting.

"Damn…I didn't think they'd send four Jounin after me." Kakashi stood there for a moment to catch his breath. "Dammit…I'd better find the kids." He moved his forehead protector back over his eye. He started off in the direction in which he had last seen them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a little frog that looked like one of Jiraiya's. He picked it up.

"HEY YOU!" It yelled and thrashed about in his hand, "Put me down!"

"That's no way to talk to someone bigger than you," Kakashi said, "For all you know, I might EAT you if you annoy me."

"H-HEY! I'm just doing what that yellow-haired brat told me to do!" Kakashi looked at him in surprise. "Don't shoot the messenger!"

"Naruto! He's okay? What about the other kids? Where there any other kids with him?"

"Y-yeah. There was a meek lookin' girl with long black hair and gray eyes, a kid with HUGE eyebrows, and a girl that had buns in her hair." Kakashi sighed a sigh of relief.

"Good, so they're all okay. Which direction?" Kakashi said putting the frog down.

"Just follow me." It said as it hopped off.

Naruto, Hinata, Lee, and Tenten all sat in a circle talking about the mission.

"How did WE get this mission anyway?" Naruto complained. "I mean this has to be an 'S' ranked mission at LEAST!"

"Yeah," said Lee. "But it's good training!" Lee said with fire in his eyes.

"That's the spirit Lee!" Tenten agreed.

"A-at least the company is good," Hinata said with a slight smile. They all looked at her. It was very out of character for her to say something like that. Naruto put Hinata in a headlock and started to give her a noogie.

"Hey! That's the way to be Hinata-chan!" Her face turned bright red. She looked around and noticed that everyone was laughing. She gave a little smile before joining in with them.

A rustle in the bushes suddenly interrupted the group's fun. In an instant, Lee and Naruto were on their feet ready to fight, but relaxed when they saw Kakashi come out of the bushes without a scratch on him. Everyone let out a sigh.

"Hey there." Kakashi said. "How is everyone?"

"We're fine Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said. Kakashi walked up to the group and inspected everyone. Naruto noticed something odd about Kakashi's, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He also thought it was odd how Kakashi wasn't injured at all…not only that but his clothes weren't dirty or anything.

"Glad to see you're all right Kakashi-sensei." Lee said.

"Well, this Sharingan of mine…" Naruto interrupted him.

"THAT'S IT!" He yelled as he nailed his sensei in the face with a wheel kick sending him flying.

"Naruto! What the HELL?" Kakashi said.

"Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan is in his LEFT eye. Not his right." And sure enough, the headband was over the Kakashi impersonator's right eye.

"Dammit!" Yelled the sound ninja as he turned back into his normal form. "I'll get you!" He lunged at them. When he was about ten feet away, the real Kakashi appeared behind him and yelled,

"Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique! 1,000 YEARS OF PAIN!" The real Kakashi rammed his fingers into the rump of the Sound shinobi which sent the sound ninja reeling into a tree trunk, knocking him out.

"Now THAT is the real Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said with a smile.

"Glad to see you saw through that terrible disguise Naruto." Kakashi smiled behind his mask

"Well, first off," Naruto explained, "He was totally unscathed…no rips in his clothing at all." The lecture continued, "Then when he mentioned the Sharingan, it drew my attention to his face. He had the headband over the wrong eye."

"Alright everyone, you've had enough time to relax, It's time to move out." Kakashi said.

"What about that Kaoshi guy?" Tenten asked.

"He's fine. He and I went through this last night. If we get separated from him, we head north till we hit the ocean, then head east. That should bring us to a small neutral country just southwest of the Lightning Country."

"You've got this all planned out. Don't you…" Naruto asked, clearly annoyed.

"A good Ninja is always prepared, Naruto."

"Isn't that the boy scout motto?"

"No, It was ours first." Kakashi said angrily. "…Those thieving bastards."

"So…We go north?" Lee asked trying to change to topic off of Boy scouts, especially seeing as it's a ninja fanfiction and all.

"Yes," Kakashi said, with his usual, pleasant demeanor. "Let's move out." Kakashi said heading north. "I want to get the hell out of this country by nightfall."

"K-Kakashi-sensei… don't we have to worry about any more sound ninja?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Of course we do." Said Kakashi. "But it's much less likely now. We've killed every last attacker. So there are none left to bring back the news of their defeat or victory. My guess is that they'll wait till tomorrow before sending anyone else out. Hopefully by then, we'll be long gone."

"…isn't that just a speculation Kakashi-sensei?" Lee asked.

"Yup." The masked ninja said. "We could STILL be attacked at any second. I'm just saying that the chances of it happening are much, MUCH lower now.

"Gee, that makes me feel so much better." Naruto sighed.

Hinata looked up at Naruto. He was walking next to her with his pouting face on. She giggled slightly. All of a sudden her head started to swirl, she started to lose her balance and fell into Naruto.

"H-Hey! What's the big…" he stopped and looked at her. She was sweating and more pale than usual. He took off his headband, brushed Hinata's hair off of her forehead, and placed his forehead to hers. Her face turned bright red. "You're feverish," He said. Hinata just stared at him. "Hey! Kakashi-sensei! Hinata's gotta fever!"

Kakashi walked over to her. "Hmm…" He said. "Hinata, give me your right arm please." Hinata complied. Kakashi pushed up her sleeve to reveal a bloodstained bandage. He slowly took it off and looked at the wound. It was red and swollen. "Yup, it's just as I thought." Kakashi said. "Poison."

"W-WHAT!" Naruto yelled. "POISON!"

"Yes, poison Naruto, you know stuff used to kill people?." Kakashi made a few seals for an analyzing jutsu. "Hmm…it's not serious." He said after a moment. "But we're going to need to keep you from moving around too much… after all, any poison can cause severe damage if not treated properly." Kakashi said as he took some fresh bandages out of his pack. He started to wrap Hinata's arm when he noticed she was crying.

"T-this always happens…" She said through her sobs. "I'm always so useless…"

"Hinata-chan…" Naruto said.

"It's always me," she continued. "It's never anyone else. Even when we had C ranked missions, Kiba and Shino would always end up having to save me. I just can't do anything…" She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. "I wish I didn't come on this stupid mission!" She said finally.

"All done." Kakashi said as he finished bandaging her arm. "I suppose I'll have to carry you…" Kakashi went to go pick up Hinata when Naruto stopped him.

"I'll do it Kakashi-sensei." He said with a smile.

"Any particular reason Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. You're the strongest of us, so it makes sense that you be the most mobile." Naruto said. "Right?"

"I suppose," Kakashi said. "But can you handle it?"

"Phht." Naruto scoffed, "I'm gonna be the Hokage, Kakashi-sensei. Carrying Hinata-chan will be easy for me."

"N-Naruto-kun?" She asked as he kneeled down with his back to her.

"Hop on Hinata-chan." He said with his smile. She climbed up onto his back, riding piggyback. "I'm all set here Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said.

"Okay. We can STILL make it out of here by nightfall if we don't make any more stops." He looked at them, "Am I clear?" They all nodded. With that, they left.

They group was going along at a good pace. Kakashi in front, Lee who was still carrying Tenten, and Naruto and Hinata in the back. Naruto did this intentionally, so that she could cry without everyone else watching. Her tears were starting to leak through his shirt. He glanced over to her. She had buried her head into his shoulder. Naruto sighed.

"Hinata-chan?" No answer. "I know you're upset Hinata-chan." He said as tenderly as possible. "I know how you feel too." She remained silent. "Back when we first became Genin, I was always messing up. Sasuke was always saving me. It pissed me off." He noticed that her sobs had stopped. "So, one day…I just got so fed up with being useless…that I decided something. I took an oath that I would never have to be rescued again. But no matter how hard I tried, I always messed up." Hinata shifted her head so that she could see his face. "I couldn't figure it out. Was I just that weak? I thought that was my problem so I trained. But no matter what I did, Sasuke always had to save me." He smiled weakly.

"Naruto-kun?" She said shakily.

"But, every time he saved me. It motivated me to try harder, so that one day, he wouldn't HAVE to save me." His smile grew wider. "I said to myself, 'One day Sasuke, there will be a Naruto who doesn't need to be saved. A Naruto, who instead of making stupid mistakes and getting angry about them, would remember them and learn from them." He looked Hinata in the eyes and said, "Every mistake is a lesson given to you by a hard teacher. The more lessons he gives to you, the more he'll force you to learn. Cause you never know when he's gonna give you a pop quiz, and if you didn't study, you'll fail. And in the world of Shinobi, failing doesn't mean taking the class over again. It means you die."

"W-what are you trying to say Naruto-kun?"

"What I'm trying to say, Hinata-chan, is that you need to take each mistake you make, analyze it, figure out how and why it happened, and learn from it." He smiled. "If what you're saying, about you always making mistakes even more than me is true. And you do what I just told you. You'll become an even better ninja than me."

Hinata just looked at him for a second before burying her head in his shoulder again.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah Hinata-chan?"

"…thanks."

"Hehe, no problem." He smiled, "And about you wishing you never came on this mission…I think the only person who thinks that is you." He stopped, "Well, at least I'm glad you came."

"…N-N-Naruto-k-kun…" she stuttered, her face completely red. She buried her head deeper into his shoulder in hopes that he wouldn't notice.

"Not far now!" Kakashi yelled from up ahead, "I can smell the ocean so we're getting close!"

"Awesome." Naruto said.

Fifteen minutes later, the group arrived at the ocean. The sun was already bleeding across the sky.

"Hmm… I'd say we have less than two hours of daylight left…" said Kakashi. "Think we can make it?"

"Hell yeah!" Naruto said giving thumbs up.

"All right," Kakashi said, "Let's go."

After two uneventful hours, the company reached the Sound Country border. The sun was down already so they easily spotted some lights from a village.

"Think we can get rooms for the night?" Naruto asked.

"Possibly," said Kakashi, "But we'll have to take off our headbands before we go in."

Naruto hated the thought of removing the headband that he was so proud, but agreed nonetheless. Hinata and Tenten were already asleep, so it Lee and Naruto made a big production out of getting their headbands off without waking them up. After about ten minutes they accomplished this task and were ready to enter town.

While all that was happening, Kakashi took the opportunity to put on a disguise, as not to be recognized as the renowned "Copy Ninja." All he did was take of his Jounin jacket and Konoha forehead protector. He replaced the protector with just a regular blue headband. So, Kakashi was just wearing a black t-shirt, a mask, and pants.

"Okay you guys," The transformed Kakashi said, "Let's go." They set off towards the village.


	5. Ch5: Room and Bored

1.9k words to start this time.

Yeah..that was a nice little vacation...

And yes, I've decided that the official currency of the Naruto world is "Moneys", Get over it.

ADVENTURES

IN

L I G H T N I N G

_--Digitally Rewritten--_

**Chapter 5: Room and Bored  
**

The group wandered through the town. It was a small, poor town, but everyone seemed friendly. People welcomed the group into their town asking questions of various sorts. The ninja's façade was that they had gone on a hiking trip, gotten lost, and needed somewhere to spend the night. One man directed the party to a small inn called "The Happy Dog's Inn and Tavern". Kakashi liked the name and decided to spend the night there. It didn't take them long to find it. It seemed to be the only place for adults to get a drink, though. They walked through the doors, a few heads turned to look at them but quickly back to what they were doing.

Kakashi walked up to the bar. The burly bartender looked at him frowning.

"How would I go about getting some rooms?" He asked.

"That depends on if you got money, and how many people." The bartender said.

Kakashi put some money on the counter. "Five people two women and three men. Separate rooms if that could be possible."

The bartender smiled, "Well I've only got two rooms available. They're right next to each other." He handed Kakashi two keys. "Rooms 204 and 206. You and the two boys will be in room 206."

"Thank you very much sir." Kakashi said with a hidden smile.

"No problem," said the man, "Just don't go messing up my rooms."

"Will do." Kakashi said, "Come on." He said to the boys. They followed him up to the rooms. Kakashi unlocked the door to the girls' room. "After you put them down on the beds, come into our room."

"Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto with concern in his voice. "What about the poison in Hinata?"

"She hasn't moved in a few hours." Kakashi said, "It was a weak poison and will have minimal effect at this point. She'll be fine after a nights rest."

Naruto sighed with relief.

A few minutes later Lee and Naruto walked into the room. Kakashi was already asleep.

"…That was fast…" said Lee.

"I'm not really sure why, but his Sharingan uses up a lot of chakra…"

"Oh." Lee looked over at the other bed. "So…who gets the other bed?" He asked.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at it then at Lee. "I'm too tired to fight for it, you can have it." Naruto said and sat down in the chair by the window.

"Thanks Naru…" But Naruto was already asleep. "Hmmm, we DID have a rough day…" A few moments later Lee was out cold too.

When Naruto woke, the sun was already high in the sky. He could hear birds chirping outside as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked around the room,. Kakashi was already gone. There was a note on the dresser. Naruto picked it up and started to read it.

Dear kids,

I'm off trying to find Kaoshi. You're free to wander the town if you can stay out of trouble. Try to get back to the inn before nightfall.

-Kakashi

P.S. I mean it Naruto, don't get into trouble.

Naruto made a face and crumpled the letter.

"I don't get into trouble anymore…" He said walking over to Lee. "Lee, get up." Lee rolled over in bed, ignoring Naruto. "Ugh." Naruto got a cup of cold water from the bathroom and dumped it on Lee. Needless to say, Lee woke up.

"What?" Lee shook his head splattering water everywhere. "How are you my youth-filled friend?"

Naruto stared blankly at Lee. "Umm…fine." He rolled his eyes. It was almost impossible to take Lee seriously unless he was fighting. The eyebrows and all… "Lets go wake up Hinata-chan and Tenten." Naruto and Lee left their room. Naruto knocked on the door. There was a voice from inside.

"HOLD ON!" It was Tenten. "We'll be out in a minute!" she yelled again.

Fifteen minutes later, they still weren't ready. Naruto and Lee were sitting against the wall waiting.

"God damn!" complained Naruto, "How long does it take them to get ready?" The door behind them opened.

"It takes as long as it takes! Jeez." They turned around and looked at the girls. Upon seeing them, both of their jaws dropped. Tenten was in a pink kimono with red flowers on it. Not far behind her was Hinata, who was wearing a light blue kimono with yellow flowers on it. Not only that, she had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Aside from Hinata's face being bright red, the two girls made quite a sight. "Judging by your faces, I think you agree that the wait was worth it. Hmm?"

Naruto grumbled, not wanting to agree. Lee nodded with a smile.

"You bet Tenten!"

"You really think it looks good Lee?" She said blushing.

"Yes you both look great!" Tenten giggled and hopped over to the stairs.

"So?" she said, "Shall we?" The young shinobi walked out of the inn onto the road.

"So, where should we go?" asked Naruto.

"We were up early this morning, so I took the opportunity to ask the barkeeper if there were any good shops around." Said Tenten. "There's a market up the road a bit."

Tenten started to walk off dragging Hinata behind her. Naruto looked at Lee.

"Just like girls…clothes and shops…" Naruto started after her Tenten and Hinata. Lee was not far behind.

It wasn't long before they found the market. It was the center of the village and took up about 60 percent of the entire village. Tenten was in heaven. Konoha, while having a variety of shops could not compete with the hand-made quality and cheap prices you found in these small villages. Tenten was in heaven. Suddenly the gears in Tenten's head started moving. An idea slowly began to form. Not only would it aid them in shopping, but it would simultaneously get her and Lee, and Naruto and Hinata in a date-like situation.

"Let's split up!" the brunette proclaimed with a mix of excitement and pride.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, confused, "why?"

"A bigger group is more suspicious right?" she pointed out. "If we're supposed to be incognito, we should try to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible." Her reason seemed to satisfy her teammates and she smiled to herself. After all, her real reason was to go on a pseudo date with Lee.

"That makes sense…" Lee said scratching his head, remotely confused.

"Also if Hinata and I split up, we can each take half of the market and meet in the middle and tell each other where the good shops are so we save time!" she pointed out.

"You know Tenten…You're the queen of ulterior motives," Naruto said with a short sigh.

"So, do Lee and I and you two sound fine?" She said, ignoring the blonde.

"Whatever." Said Naruto, who wasn't thrilled to be shopping in the first place, let alone shopping without Lee around to talk to.

"Okay, so see you in like five hours?" Tenten asked. Before anyone could answer she added, "Great! Later you two! Try not to have too much fun!" She winked at Hinata, who blushed, and dragged Lee away into the crowded market.

Naruto looked at Hinata. "Do you even like shopping?" He asked exasperatedly.

"N-no…not really." She said looking down. "I-I haven't d-done it much."

"Great!" Naruto yelled, "Me either! Now we don't have to go shopping right?"

"What else is there to do?" She asked him quietly.

"What else ISN'T there to do?" He said grabbing her by the arm and pulling her. "Let's go have some fun!"

"W-what!" Hinata was confused. "What do you mean 'have fun'?"

"We're just gonna goof off!" Naruto replied happily.

"G-goof off?" Hinata wasn't entirely sure what that meant, nor was she sure if she wanted to. Nonetheless, in a daze, she let Naruto drag her down the street until he found something that caught his eye.

"Wow, this little village has a movie theatre?" He said rather loudly. Sure enough, there was a quaint little movie theatre in front of them. It only had two movies, but hey, it was better than nothing. One seemed to be about the action-filled adventures of a young boy, and the other appeared to be a romance flick about a shy, naive princess and her unrequited love for the loud strong punk from the rough part of town, who her parents would never approve of. Hinata eyed the poster for the romance film for a moment, noticing how similar the plot seemed to her situation. "You wanna see a movie Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked innocently. Her heart fluttered.

"O-Only if you want to, Naruto-kun." She replied meekly.

"Cool," Naruto said with a smile, "Which one you wanna see?" he placed his hand on his chin, "I don't really relate well to romancy flicks."

"Uh…" Hinata eyed up the poster for her desired film once more, deciding that she was happy enough just being in a movie together with Naruto. "I'd like to see the action film, if that's ok with you." She lied.

"OoOkay." He smiled, "You wait here, I'll grab the tickets." Hinata inquired about reimbursing him for her ticket, but he told her that it was fine. Naruto then walked up to the ticket window and said, "Two for…" he paused for a moment and looked back to see Hinata glancing at the poster of the movie she REALLY wanted to see. Naruto coughed and swallowed his pride. With a blush on his face he said, "The…Forbidden Love of a…Princess…" The young man behind the counter snickered as he handed Naruto the tickets.

"Biting the bullet so the girlfriend can see the movie she wants?" He inquired.

"Basically…except for the girlfriend part." Naruto scratched his head and sighed.

"Enjoy the movie, sir." The ticket salesman said to Naruto with a chuckle.

"Ohhhh yeah." Naruto sighed skeptically. He took a deep breath, put on his excited face, and turned back to Hinata. "C'mon Hinata-chan!" He yelled in a very unconvincingly excited tone, which he hoped she didn't notice, "Let's get going! It's gonna start soon!" Naruto grabbed Hinata by the hand and dragged her into the theatre. They sat down near the back row, towards the center of the giant room. The lights dimmed not too long after they sat down, which was convenient because Naruto wouldn't have been able to sit still for much longer without some sort of diversion.

"_We're the only ones in the theatre,"_ Hinata thought to herself, _"This would be really romantic if we weren't seeing such a…huh?" _Hinata's jaw dropped when the title of the movie was displayed on the screen._ "He didn't…"_

"N-Naruto-kun…you didn't…" Hinata asked in disbelief.

"What?" Naruto shrugged, "You wanted to see it. So what if it isn't my cup of tea, if it's with you Hinata-chan I'd see any movie." He smiled at her, not realizing what he just implied and that he just sent Hinata's brain into an embarrassed whirl of hormonal confusion, which she luckily deciphered as him not understanding what he said. Because of said whirl, she missed the first 10 minutes of the movie. Luckily for her, it was pretty straightforward. She was surprised how much it resembled her life. Since the author is too lazy, you're actually not going to get a plot summary of the movie; you can use your imagination, can't you?

After almost two hours, the movie ended and Naruto and his female companion departed.

"Jeez, could that guy be any more dense?" Naruto complained as they exited, "That girl was OBVIOUSLY nuts about him." He sighed, "If I ever meet someone that dense I'm gonna smack him upside the head." Hinata found the sheer irony of his statement both somewhat saddening and remotely amusing at the same time, and hoped he wouldn't smack himself in the head. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a low gurgle in her stomach. She looked up at him to see if he had heard, she wasn't entirely sure why, but if he had, she would have been embarrassed. The her delight, and slight fear, Naruto's stomach let out a low guttural growl which she wear, shook the ground. To attest to this, some people actually turned their heads and stared at the blonde's violent stomach. "YEESH!" He yelled, "I'm STARVING!" He glanced at Hinata, "Do you mind if we get a bite to eat?" He asked. Hinata smiled at him.

"Let's." She looked at him with eyes that shimmered like pearls, and added, "I'm starting to get hungry myself." She inwardly cheered for not stuttering at all. They started towards where that had seen some restaurants earlier. Not too long into their migration to find a habitat rich in food, Naruto spied a ramen stand.

"Oi, Hinata-chan, do you want ramen?" Hinata had expected such and mentally prepared herself for a ramen adventure.

"Sure." Hinata smiled at him again and sat down at the ramen stand. Naruto sat down next to her and they ordered. Shortly after ordering, their food arrived and they began their feast. Hinata had barely managed to daintily consume one bowl of the noodle soup, whereas Naruto grotesquely devoured his fifth bowl with great speed and efficiency. Not a single movement was wasted in this savage art form that would put any Akimichi to shame. Though she did like some of Naruto's immaturities, this was one thing she hoped he outgrew. After they had finished and paid, a sum so hefty that it made Hinata wonder how the boy, who lived on his own, managed to pay for his food bills, they departed. (Author's note: Holy crap that sentence has a lot of commas.) They decided that they should probably at least walk through the shops in case Tenten decided to quiz them later.

As they were passing a shop Hinata noticed a necklace in the window. She quickly opened her purse and counted her money. She walked up to the counter, Naruto not far behind.

"E-excuse me…sir?" she asked. The owner turned around and looked at her.

"What can I do for you miss?" He said with a smile.

"How much for that one?" She pointed to the necklace.

"That? You've got a good eye miss," He took out a white gold necklace with a heart dangling off it. The heart had regular gold curves on it. "Usually something of this quality could easily go for 250 moneys at LEAST! But today, miss, just for you I could part with it for MERE 150 moneys."

"Oh…" she only had 80 moneys with her, having left most of her traveling funds in the room. "Sorry to have bothered you." She started to go out.

"Hey, Hinata-chan?" Naruto inquired, "You really want that necklace?"

"Yeah…"

"How much do you have?"

"80 moneys…"

"Here's the next lesson Hinata-chan," Naruto smiled. "Bargaining."

"Can I see that for a moment?" Hinata turned around to see Naruto looking at the necklace.

"250? For a blind idiot maybe. You couldn't sell this for 70."

"Really now?" He said with a slight grin. "I say I could sell it for 135."

"I don't think so," Naruto said slyly, "You're a smart man and your business tactics are well refined…but I still say no more than 80."

"Hmmm, you're a tough one." The storeowner said, "120."

"110." Naruto said, and then added firmly, "Take it or leave it."

"Done!" The shopkeeper handed over the necklace.

"But I only have 80!" Naruto took the money. She noticed him count it slowly and deliberately. She wasn't too surprised when it came out to 100.

"See?" He showed her, "You have 100, and I'll spot you the other 10." He paid the man and gave Hinata her necklace. "You should count more carefully Hinata-chan." Once they were out of the shop Hinata tugged on Naruto's arm.

"Thank you Naruto-kun." Naruto shrugged.

"It was only 10 moneys."

"No Naruto." She stopped, "You didn't have to do that. I saw you slip 20 in there."

"Hehe. Got me." He scratched his head. "You said you really wanted it. And since we've become such good friends on this mission I figured I'd be nice."

"_Friends! Such good friends!" _She cheered inwardly.

"S-still…Thank you." She said with a slight smile.

"No problem Hinata-chan." He grinned his trademark grin and kept walking.

After a while they caught up with Lee and Tenten. It hadn't quite been the five hours, but everyone was beat.

"Let's go back," said Lee. "I'm more tired than I was last night."

"Great idea Lee!" Tenten started rummaging around in her bags, "I bought this great game we can play!"

"Just how much money DID you bring anyways?" Asked Naruto.

"Ummm…I think…1500." Her three companions nearly feinted.

"Are you RICH or something?" Naruto yelled.

"Don't worry, I still have more at the inn." They almost feinted again.

"Speaking of the hotel," Hinata said, "I'll pay you back for lunch and the necklace when we get back."

Naruto patted her on the head, "I already told you not to worry about it."

"Ooh! Necklace! Lemme see!" Tenten was practically manhandling Hinata's neck. "IT'S GORGEOUS! How much did it cost!"

"Well, he wanted to sell it to her at 150, which was way too much."

"150! I would have paid 250 at least!"

"Hinata? Remember what I said when the shopkeeper told us that it was worth 250?"

"_Umm… 250! For an idiot maybe"! _

"Yes." Naruto pointed at Tenten,

"I think I just proved my point." Hinata started giggling.

"Naruto that's terrible…"

"But funny." Naruto and Hinata were laughing for a while until Tenten said,

"Look at you two. You look just like a couple."

Silence ensued.

Hinata's face turned bright red. Naruto wasn't too far behind.

"Er-err…Ummm. Maybe, we should go back to the inn now."

"Y-yes! G-g-g-g-good idea Naruto!" Hinata said. Hinata and Naruto rushed off towards the inn.

"Great." Lee said with a sigh, "Now look what you did…"

"I-it just slipped…" Tenten admitted shamefully.

"Now both of them will be uncomfortable around the other…"

"Let's go back…we might be able to salvage SOMETHING…" and with that the two followed their hormonally confused cohorts to the inn to try and salvage some of their progress.

--

So I added over 1200 words to this chapter, lol. Not bad if I do say so myself. I felt this chapter was a little vague, and could use a LITTLE bit of fluff-like material. Time to reread it and make sure everything makes sense!


	6. Ch6: 3 is Company, 4 is Awkward

Well, here I am, back for another rewritten chapter. Aren't you all excited? Well, at least the like 9 people who've alerted and 13 people who've favorite'd this might be remotely jubilant.

In any event, I'm really…REALLY upset with the way I portrayed Tenten in the old version of this fanfic. I made her out to be an annoying busybody who loves to shop. Which…I don't think does Tenten the justice she deserves. I'll just have to stick with it though…once I have a time skip I'll make her personality do a complete 180 and hopefully make her less irritating, while maintaining some girly traits. Also in the old version, I could probably count Tenten's lines on my fingers and toes, there were so few of them…trying to fix that.

…wow…this chapter was originally so damn short…I'm gonna have to like rewrite the whole thing from scratch in order to meet my minimum…

Oooh, I just got some inspiration of what I can change in this chapter to make it more interesting! Woot!

Seriously, go read the original version of this chapter…it's so bad compared to this one.

And yes, the whole point of this chapter is to be fun. C'mon, even the canon has filler…why can't I have it too?

Started at 1400…and…it became the chapter that doesn't want to end…

ADVENTURES

IN

L I G H T N I N G

_--Digitally Rewritten--_

**Chapter 6: Three is company, but Four is just Awkward**

Naruto paced back and forth between the beds in his room. He was unsure of what happened that day. Everything was going great until Tenten had opened her stupid mouth. He flopped down on a bed and let out a sigh, followed by a sharp inhalation through his nose. He noted some blockage in the nasal path so he inserted his finger in order to dislodge whatever may be obstructing it. After it was dislodged, he stuck it on Kakashi's pillow and sighed again.

What was a guy supposed to do in that situation? Just suck it up and try to get through it? He wasn't an expert on girls, but he was fairly certain that just ignoring this whole situation would probably make it a whole lot worse. He and Hinata were getting along fine, and he didn't really want to ruin that, as she was swiftly becoming an even better friend.

Not to mention this friend was smart, pretty, way nicer than Sakura, apparently, unlike Sakura, viewed him with great respect, she was a little insecure…but he sort of found that cute. In addition to all that she had those nice massive…EYES. Naruto forcibly dragged his mind out of the gutter, determined not to turn out like his sensei or Ero-Sannin. Though, he did really find her eyes intriguing to look at.

"But I still like Sakura better," He said matter of factly, then with a sigh added, "Then why was it so embarrassing?" He scratched his chin. It was true, if someone had said that about him and _Sakura_, he'd jump all over that and agree with them, despite the innate risk of head trauma. So, if he could act that way in the same situation with Sakura, the girl he was supposed to like, why would Hinata make that big of a difference? They were both girls, so it shouldn't be that different.

The more he thought about it, the more he confused himself. For the first time in his life, he didn't really know something about himself. He was one hundred percent sure that he liked Sakura, suddenly an image of her punching him in the head flashed through his mind, ok…ninety-eight percent sure.

"Still…I…like Sakura." He said very unconvincingly.

"Really, Naruto?" Kakashi, who was standing by the door, asked. "It seems like you should try to convince yourself before you try to convince others, cause you don't seem too sure of it.

"Oh shut up Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said rolling his eyes. He did not want to hear anything about girls from the pervert that, as far as he knew, never had a girl who he liked, ever. "What do you know?"

"I know you've got a lot going on up there in your head kid." Kakashi said simply. "You can try to figure it out on your own, or you could let me try to help." The blonde looked at his masked sensei and weighed his options. He sure as hell didn't know what to think, so a second opinion might be in order…even if it was Kakashi-sensei's opinion. Naruto _usually_ valued his sensei's opinion, as he knew that Kakashi was far more experienced than him, however…Naruto doubted this was a topic he knew much about.

"Kakashi-sensei…why is life so confusing?" Naruto finally broke the silence.

"If I knew that, Naruto, I'd be a hell of a lot richer." Kakashi said jokingly.

"Kakashi-sensei, I understand you want to help, but if you're going to be an ass about it then I don't want it." Kakashi looked at confused teen and sighed.

"Oi…" Kakashi walked over to Naruto and sat on the bed next to him. "I'm going to guess that no one's ever taught you about the birds and the bees…have they Naruto?"

"Umm…I know about them." Naruto said with a furrowed brow.

"Good, that's a start." Kakashi was about to continue when Naruto interrupted him.

"Both of them fly around…" Naruto said making hand gestures of a bird flying. "And one stings you and you swell up…and some people are allergic… but what's that got to do with…"

"Not _those_ kinds of birds and bees Naruto." Kakashi interrupted with a long drawn out sigh. "The _other _kind."

"There are other kinds of birds and bees?" Naruto imagined giant, 8 foot hawks battling similar sized bees. "…I've never seen any bees like that." He said flatly, though with a proper summoning contract the hawk was more feasible than a giant bee. Kakashi sighed and started whispering into Naruto's ear.

"Well…Naruto, the birds are…"

"Really?" Naruto asked as shock spread across his face. "No way…"

"Yup." Kakashi said, "And the bees…well they're a whole different story…they're…"

"Are you sure…?" the blonde looked at his sensei incredulously. Somehow the image he got in his head was of a parakeet in a dress and a bee wearing a suit and tie, eating a romantic dinner of birdseed and honey by candlelight. "Nuh-uh…"

"Yes Naruto," Kakashi continued. "Then afterwards they…" he leaned further in and continued to whisper the new, delicate information into Naruto's ear. The longer Kakashi whispered, the more visible the look of mortification on Naruto's face became. Once Kakashi had stopped Naruto just sat there for a while, absorbing what Kakashi had just said to him. Naruto's overactive imagination once again bastardized the information he had just received. The parakeet and bee, stood up from the table, threw off their clothes, embraced, stared at each other lovingly for a moment, shared the most awkward kiss that Naruto could possible imagine (beak plus mandibles does not a kiss make), and dove into a futon, conveniently placed on the floor right next to them.

"WHAT?!" Naruto jumped back. "T-T-T-T-T-THAT'S GROSS!"

"God…" Kakashi said with a blank stare, "Who'd have thought at 15 this kid wouldn't know about the birds and the bees…" Kakashi rested his head in his palm. "The master of Sexy no Jutsu and Harem no Jutsu doesn't know about the birds and the bees…" Kakashi looked at Naruto who was flailing about complaining that Kakashi shouldn't have told him something like _that_. "…As if anything could get more ironic…"

"And you're telling me that this whole birds and bees deal is going on between me and Hinata-chan?" the blonde inquired cautiously.

"Sort of…" Kakashi sighed dumbfounded.

"But a bird is too big for a bee to…" Naruto was even more confused now, viewing his imaginary bird and bee couple (Their names are Chirpy and Stingy!) trying to accomplish any illicit acts with the huge size difference, was hurting his brain. All the while, still trying to figure out how birds and bees getting it on related to him and Hinata, was making smoke pour from his ears as the rusty gears turned. After nearly three minutes of thinking, he finally came to a conclusion. After reaching said conclusion, he yelled, "I'm not a bee!"

"Holy shit you're an idiot Naruto…" Kakashi hoisted himself off the bed and started towards the door.

"Where are you going Kakashi-sensei?" The curious blonde inquired.

"You obviously need to get in touch with your pituitary gland." Kakashi opened the door and stood in its frame. "Later, I'm gonna go look for Kaoshi again. I'll be back by morning, and while I'm gone I want all four of you to stay in this room."

"W-WHAT!" Naruto yelled surprised by the turn of events. That meant he'd have to be in there with Hinata…awkward.

"You heard me. Tell them when they get back, ciao." He smiled and shut the door behind him.

"Idiot…" Naruto said under his breath, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling. Only instead of the ceiling he saw Kakashi's face but a few inches from his own. "WHAT THE F-!" He yelled as he sprang out of the chair.

"I forgot to tell you that you should try to talk to Hinata. She seems fairly distressed too." He pointed out, "Can't have awkwardness throwing off our teamwork now."Kakashi smiled and poofed away in a cloud of smoke again. Naruto had nearly died of a heart attack.

"Damn him!" Naruto said between breaths. He looked up at the ceiling again. Kakashi wasn't there. He was alone again. He could always go next door and…

"Oi Naruto," said Kakashi as he crawled out from underneath the bed. Naruto jumped to the ceiling and clung there as sweat poured down his face. After soothing his bladder into not releasing its contents, took a deep breath.

"K-KAKASHI-SENSEI!" He yelled, "STOP DOING THAT!"

"Sorry, one more thing, that's it I swear." Kakashi put a package on the table. "I need you to watch this for me, don't open it or anything, kay?"

"Y-Yeah…" Naruto said between huffs.

"Excellent," Kakashi said, "Ciao." Was his last word before disappearing once again.

"God dammit." He really wasn't fond of the idea of going to talk to Hinata. They had spent four hours having great times and were becoming really good friends. Then it all exploded like Chouji after a bean burrito. He thought about it several times before saying, "What the hell?" He got up and left his room.

Hinata was lying on her bed on the verge of tears. Her perfect day was ruined. The once in a lifetime experience was over. All she could do now was remember it. Or so she thought.

A knock came at the door. Hinata looked up and trotted to the door.

"W-Who is it?" she asked meekly.

"It's Naruto. I was bored so I figured I could come over and talk to you?" said the voice outside. "So…c-can I come in?"

"Y-Yes…" Hinata unlocked the door, rubbed her eyes, hoping they weren't too red, and took a deep breath before saying to herself, "You can do it…" She opened the door, and there, lo and behold, was the object of her desires. "H-hello Naruto-kun." She said as her face turned bright red. "Come in…"

"Thanks." He said as he flashed his classic cheek-to cheek smile. He walked into the room and sat down on one of the beds. Hinata followed him and sat adjacent to him on the other bed. They both wanted to say something but neither of them could really find the words to say anything.

Finally Naruto decided that the silence had gone on long enough.

"Hey, Hinata-chan…"

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun?"

"About what Tenten said…" Hinata looked up so she could see his face. "Let's not get all weird about it, all right?" Hinata blushed and smiled.

"O-okay Naruto-kun."

"Let's just pretend it never happened, the only thing we'll remember from today is all the fun we had, kay?"

"Y-yes…okay." Naruto patted her on the head. "Good. Now that that's all cleared up…" his voice trailed off.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked. Naruto responded by placing his index finger over his lips.

"Shh." Naruto crept up to the door and placed his ear to it. Outside he heard the two familiar voices of Lee and Tenten. Naruto, not wanting to be caught in the girls' room quickly used a Henge no jutsu and transformed himself into a lamp above the door.

Hinata realized why Naruto was acting so weird when Tenten, who, though honestly sorry for the trouble she caused, had gotten distracted by a shop on the way to the inn, walked in. She placed her plethora of bags down and looked at the shy girl on the bed. Hinata's face was still flush red.

"Hey, Hinata-chan why are you blushing? It's only me." Tenten said arching an eyebrow.

"N-no reason." Hinata said in a rather unsure tone. Tenten could only think of one reason she'd be blushing. Naruto was somewhere in the room.

"Oh…" Tenten said with a sly look on her face. "So you wouldn't mind me…" Tenten dropped down onto the floor looking under the beds, "LOOKING UNDER THE BEDS?" No Naruto.

"Ummm no…" Hinata said in a soft tone, slightly less worried that Tenten would find Naruto now that the search was actually on. "Tenten-san…why are you…?"

"How about…" Tenten flung open the door to the bathroom. "IN THE BATHROOM!"

"A-Are you feeling alright Tenten-san?" Tenten continued around the room looking for Naruto. Luckily for him, Tenten had left the door ajar because she had so many things to carry. Naruto quickly undid his Henge no Jutsu when Tenten had her back turned, winked at Hinata, and left.

"Well…I guess the room is clean." Tenten said looking at Hinata whose face was even redder than before. "Jeez girl…there's something wrong with you." Tenten sighed, figuring Hinata just blushed at random times and couldn't really control it at all.

Naruto stood outside the girls' room for a moment gloating to himself. "I've still got it!" He said. "The prankster stealth." Naruto opened his door and walked into the room. Lee was sitting in the chair reading a book he had picked up about ancient or lost Taijutsu styles. "Sup Lee,"

"Naruto-kun, my companion!" Lee yelled jumping up. "There you are! I was worried you might be off squandering your youth!

"N-No…" Naruto said with a sigh. He really felt sorry for what Gai's training had done to the poor genin's mind.

"Did you and Hinata-chan resolve your issues?"

"Yeah," Naruto shrugged, it was pretty easy really…after all that internal debate had made it seem.

"Excellent!" Lee exclaimed, "The fires of youth are strong in you Naruto-kun!" Lee repeatedly slapped his hand on Naruto's shoulder with pride. After the third slap Naruto had to break away, fearing that Lee would dislocate his shoulder.

"Well, Y'know," Naruto said scratching his cheek, "Can't have awkwardness messing up our team dynamics."

"Yes," Lee agreed, "Very well said my youthful friend!" Lee yelled excitedly once more.

"Anyways, we've gotta tell the girls to come in here," Naruto said with a sigh, "Kakashi-sensei's orders." Lee nodded and stood up, but Naruto told him to keep reading, hoping that if might free his brain from the hold Gai-sensei had put upon it. Naruto exited the room and walked up to the girls' room. Naruto pounded on the door, opened it, and stepped in. "Kakashi says that we all have to…" Naruto's eyes went wide as he surveyed his current environment. He examined the two figures in front of him, clad in nothing but their undergarments. "Woah…" was all he could say

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Tenten, who seemed to prefer the simple white undergarments, shrieked as she threw a lamp at him. Before it collided with his head, Naruto noted a single skull and crossbones on her bottom undergarments, and thought it suited her. The lamp collided with Naruto's face, shattering into several pieces. Unphased, Naruto's eyes drifted over towards Hinata and her massive…EYES. Naruto snapped back into reality and started to freak out.

"WAAHH!!" He yelled as he finally realized his predicament. "Wha--?! Uhh, I…" Not knowing what to say, Naruto finally decided on, "YOU SHOULD HAVE WARNED ME!!"

"You should have _knocked_!" Tenten seethed. "_Out."_

"But…" Naruto said, still trying to deliver his message.

"_OUT!!"_ She yelled as she picked a kunai off the ground.

"Y-YES MA'AM!" Naruto yelled and fumbled over himself to get out of the room. He exited and slammed the door behind him. Tenten deeply breathed in and out trying to soothe her frustration. Judging from his totally stunned behavior, he clearly didn't mean to walk in on them changing. It was hard to really, REALLY get mad at that kid…even if she wanted to.

"Ugh…" Tenten sighed. "Not cool…" Tenten looked over to Hinata, whose face was absolutely red. If it was possible, Tenten thought her head might explode from sheer embarrassment. "Snap out of it girl!" Tenten said as she bonked Hinata on the head.

"Tenten-san…" Hinata said shakily, "C-C-Can I…n-not get m-m-married now?" her white eyes threatening to let loose tears.

"Of course you can…if something like that ruined women for marriage, most women wouldn't get married." Tenten then smiled mischievously. "Well, even if it did, if you married Naruto then it wouldn't matter then, would it?"

"M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M…" Hinata's brain exploded with images of her and Naruto at the altar. "M-M-M…" She stuttered, "m-m-m…"

"Great…I broke Hinata…" Tenten sighed. She bonked Hinata on the head again, snapping her out of her daydreams. "Look, I don't know why, or from who you're trying to keep this a secret…but me, Lee, and Kakashi-sensei already know." Hinata's head sunk a bit. "So, if you need someone to talk to, I'm all ears." She noted Hinata's face lift a bit. "I can't promise advice from experience…cause well, I haven't had much myself…but sometimes just talking helps."

"Th-Thank you Tenten-san…" Hinata said shyly.

"I expect you to do the same for me." Tenten said with a smile. "Got it?"

"Yes." Hinata smiled back at Tenten.

"It looked like the idiot had something to tell us too…" Tenten sighed. "Well, let's go over there and use that as an excuse to patch things up." Hinata agreed and they finished changing, and left their room. After a walk that lasted but a few seconds, they arrived at the guys' room and knocked.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled. He may have been blocked by a door and walls, but he was still clearly audible from outside. "They're here to exact revenge! Lee! I'm going to hide in the bathroom so don't tell them where I am!"

"Sure thing! I do not wish to see my companion, so overflowing with youth to be beaten to a bloody pulp after accidentally viewing our female companion's stunning visages; as you so described them!" Hearing this made Hinata blush again and Tenten's eyebrow twitched.

"I'm not sure if I'm supposed to feel complimented or irritated…" the brunette said. After a moment Lee opened the door.

"Oh, my female companions!" Lee exclaimed in an overly practiced tone. "What could you need?"

"Naruto looked like he needed to tell us something about Kakashi-sensei, so we're here to find out about that." Tenten said with a sigh as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Well Kakashi-sensei apparently visited Naruto and told him to tell us that we'd all be staying in this room tonight for safety purposes." Lee, who was also in the know, explained.

"Ah," Tenten said simply. "So, where's our 'youthful companion'?" Tenten asked flatly in an unconvincing attempt to humor the boys.

"I promise with all of my youth that Naruto is NOT in the bathroom under the sink!" Lee terribly lied, if you can call it a lie…

"I see," Tenten said flopping down on one of the beds. "So, did he say anything about what happened?"

"Indeed." Lee said with a smile, "Naruto-kun said that when he went to inform you of the room change, he accidentally opened the door to find you and Hinata-san changing. Upon viewing your, 'stunning visages', as he so referred to them, he froze and didn't know what to do. When you threw the lamp at him it woke him from his daze and he hastily exited the room."

"That sounds about right." Tenten sighed.

"Naruto-kun feels incredibly guilty about it." Lee continued, "He asked me to apologize for him."

"Fine…" Tenten stood up and walked to the bathroom.

"AHhhhh," Lee yelled, "You won't find him in there Tenten! If you recall I said he was definitely not in the bathroom under the sink!" Ignoring her teammates cries, Tenten sauntered into the bathroom and dragged the blond out. Ignoring Naruto's cries of apology she propped him up on the bed and drew back her fist to punch him really, really hard. Naruto saw it coming and squinted his eyes to prepare for the coming deathblow. When Tenten only bonked him on the head, he opened an eye to see the brunette standing before him with her hands on her hips.

"Look," she said strongly, yet in an understanding tone. "Hinata-chan and I have talked it out and we're letting you off easy this time. So," She added with a smile, "Knock and wait for an answer before barging into someone else's room. Especially if it is a girl's room."

"I'm sorry Tenten!" Naruto yelled with relief. "It will never happen again!"

"Damn straight it won't." Tenten said crossing her arms, doing a complete 180, "Cause if it happens a second time," she paused dramatically and pressed a kunai to his neck, "There won't be an opportunity for a third time, get me?"

"Y-Yes!!" Naruto stuttered.

"Good." Tenten let out a long breath. "Okay, now that that's settled and we're all still friends…" She was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Oh, I bet that's Kakashi-sensei." She hopped over to the door and looked through the eyepiece. "Who is it?" She found herself looking into a blood red eye with three commas in it. Her world swirled into darkness as the genjutsu took hold of her and she collapsed.

"Tenten!" Lee yelled rushing to his fallen teammate. "Snap out of…" He also found it hard to speak as a hand rammed through the door into his face, sending him flying back into a chair.

"Lee!" Naruto yelled as he took up a defensive stance. The hand that had punched through the hard wooden door worked its way over to the handle and unlocked the room. As the door slowly opened, Naruto could only feel a chill go down his spine as he found himself staring down a man with blood-red eyes who wore a cloak covered in red clouds.

"Good afternoon, Naruto-kun." The elder Uchiha said flatly. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"Itachi…" Naruto growled as he positioned himself between the mass murderer and his teammates.

-- -- -- -- --

Lol cliffy. I NEEDED to end this chapter…it was going on too long. In any case…here it is…From 1400 words to almost 4000…ENJOY!


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